The
Swindon Stargazers Club will soon have a fast growing membership, as there are
many amatuer astronomers in and around Swindon. It therefore seems prudent to
introduce a 'members page' to this website where people can submit articles and
comments on the hobby along with viewing logs and anything else that might be
interest to members.

Members are therefore invited to submit articles that
they think may be of interest to others, this be be about anything to do with
the hobby that members want to pass onto others.

Articles can be short,
a one-liner if you like or full page article with illustrations, anything can
be accommodated as on any website the possibilties are endless!The
only thing to remember is that this is your website and you can make it anything
you want, the more information we receive from members, the better this website
will be for it.

Astronomy is a fascinating subject and as you know, when
you look up and see a clear sky (on one of those rare occasions in Swindon), there
is always something new to see, always something to fire the imagination as space,
and the night sky is vast and contains endless objects, stars, planets and galaxies
with which to explore with binoculars or telescope!So
tell someone else about your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you,
using the following link: Robin
Wilkey

Don't forget you can email your pictures
or illustrations, but please keep the file sizes small at around 100k, if you
need help with how to do this please ask using the same link above.

Swindon
Club on Stargazers Lounge

The
Swindon club is now on the Stargazers
Lounge, and is accessed by going to Community> Social Groups> Astro
Societies> Swindon Stargazers Club.

The
group already has a number of members and all you have to do to take part in the
forum and become a member of this group is to go through a simple process of registration.
You will be sent an email for security purposes and then you have to log back
in using the link in the email to confirm your identity. Your login name can be
your real name or nickname.

So go on, why not join now!

Hubble
Space Telescope Finds a Double Nucleus in the Andromeda Galaxy

July
20, 1993: A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered
a "double nucleus" in the center of the neighboring spiral galaxy M31,
located in the constellation Andromeda. [Right]
- HST View of Galactic Nucleus

A
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of a "double nucleus" in the
giant spiral galaxy in Andromeda, M31. Each of the two light-peaks contains a
few million densely packed stars. The brighter object is the "classic"
nucleus as studied from the ground. However, HST reveals that the true center
of the galaxy is really the dimmer component. One possible explanation is that
the brighter cluster is the leftover remnant of a galaxy cannibalized by M31.
Another idea is that the true center of the galaxy has been divided in two by
deep dust absorption across the middle, creating the illusion of two peaks. This
green-light image was taken with HST's Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC),
in high resolution mode, on July 6, 1991. The two peaks are separated by 5 light-years.
The Hubble image is 40 light-years across.

[Center]
- Ground View of Galaxy Core

The
nucleus is at the center of the bulge of M31, a smooth system of old stars. The
bulge is apparent as the bright center of M31 in standard pictuits of the galaxy.
Individual points of light are globular star clusters each containing several
hundred thousand stars. This ground-based telescopic image does not resolve the
double nature of the nucleus. The background of the present picture is dark only
because the contrast has been adjusted to show the lull detail in the nucleus
which is much brighter then the surrounding bulge.

[Left]
- Ground View of Galaxy

One
of the closest (neighbors to our own Milky Way galaxy, M31 (the 31st object in
a catalog of non-stellar objects compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier
in 1774) dominates the small group of galaxies of which our own Milky Way is a
member. M31 can be seen with the naked eye as a spindle-shaped "cloud"
the width of the full moon.

Exclusive
email addresses are available to Swindon Stargazers members such as
'you@swindonstargazers.com'. You will have your own password as well
as support in order to set up the account in your mail client.

Please note that you must already have an account with an Internet Service
Provider (ISP) such as Virgin, BT or Tiscali etc, you will not be able
to set up this service with an online mail account, such as Hotmail
and MSN.

Setting
up an account is easy. Full instructions will be provided on how to set up your
new mail account, with step-by-step illustrations.

Exclusive
sub-domains are available to members of the Swindon Stargazers from the website
administrator such as 'www.you.swindonstargazers.com'.

The
provision of a sub-domain is discretionary and initially the club is able to provide
100MB of space, with multiples of 100MB thereafter if required. The provision
does not include streaming video etc.

Any website designed and used for
a sub-domain must be an astronomy or earth-science based website. Swindonstargazers.com
will also link to the website, building perhaps what we hope may be a 'family
of websites'. Well, you never know!

Support and advice will be given to
anyone wishing to design their own website.

Swindon
Stargazers is now included in the Wiltshire Astronomical Society's newsletter,
and we are very grateful to Andy Burns, the society's chairman, for allowing us
up to a page in each issue as space allows.

The new edition is now out, and as usual it is packed newsletter with
lots of interesting features and photographs. It also contains details
of our current meetings.

The newsletter can
be downloaded to your computer for personal use by clicking on the illustration
of the newsletter. It is an Acrobat file and you will need Adobe Acrobat
Reader already installed on your computer to open it. If you do not
have Adobe Acrobat Reader it can be downloaded free of charge by clicking
HERE(41.1MB)

Membership
Fees - Revised 3 July 2009Swindon
Stargazers is pleased to advise that the fees for membership have been revised
to allow more flexibility for both visitors to the club and for those who wish
to take advantage of the benefits of full membership, as follows:

Visitors:
First night is free, thereafter £3 per night if not a memberAnnual
Membership (March to March): £18Half Year Membership (September
to March): £10